Admiral Hyman George Rickover

Former United States Navy

Admiral Rickover (1900-1986), known as the Father of the Nuclear Navy, served for 63 years before retiring in January 1982. During World War II, he served as head of the Electrical Section of the Bureau of Ships and later as Commanding Officer of the Naval Repair Base, Okinawa.

In 1946, he was assigned to the Atomic Energy Commission laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and, in early 1949, to the Division of Reactor Development, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. As director of the Naval Reactors Branch, Admiral Rickover developed the world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN 571), which went to sea in 1955. In the years that followed, he directed all aspects of building and operating the nuclear fleet.